2009 Premium Ball Shoot Out -- Part 1
After hitting all 14 of the premium balls on the market, we found that they are all very similar. We didn’t find one that blew the others away. They all have some benefits over a different ball. Totally Driven in Oakdale, MN was so kind to help us out with launch monitor testing. It was a camera based system that gave us good results. Mr. Divots and myself are both players who really struggle hitting into nets indoors, so our numbers aren’t perfect, these tend to be more of the best numbers we got rather than the averages. Our swings were rusty, but with over 150 drives we did the best we can to give some numbers to the results we found. This is just the first part of a multi-part ball test. Once we can start playing outside, we hope to get some on course data for these balls. This was just a driver test. We will be adding parts as the season goes on with wedge testing too. The driver distance is kind of a composite of our two distances off the tee. Mr. Divots is a bit longer than these numbers and I am just hair less. We didn't have iron byron swings by any means so understand these are not perfect, just the results we got. Spin numbers are also the same kind of composite numbers. When we kept our side spin numbers down, it really helped. We did the best we could understanding and translating the data for a comparison list below.
Carry Distance (long to short)Bridgestone B330: 251
Callaway Tour ix: 251
Nike Tour D: 251
Srixon Z-Star x: 251
Titleist ProV 1x: 251
Taylormade TP Black 250
Bridgestone B330-S: 249
Titleist ProV 1: 248
Bridgestone B330-RX: 248
Callaway Tour i: 248
Srixon Z-Star: 248
Dixon Earth: 247
Nike Tour: 247
Taylormade TP Red: 247
Spin (low to high)Nike Tour D: 2800
Srixon Z-Star: 2800
Bridgestone B330-RX: 2900
Callaway Tour ix: 3000
Taylormade TP Black: 3100
Brdigestone B330: 3100
Titleist ProV 1: 3200
Srixon Z-Star x: 3200
Callaway Tour i: 3300
Titleist ProV 1x: 3400
Dixon Earth: 3600
Bridgestone B330-S: 3600
Taylormade TP Red: 3700
Nike Tour: 3800
Rlheiman's Comments:ProV 1: ’09 Titleist will still retain the king of ball sales, but it will get smaller. These are good, but the other companies are catching up.
ProV 1x: Retained much of the old ProV 1x. Still that firmer feeling ball which still is one of the longest tee-balls out there.
Srixon Z-Star: New balls that retain some of the previous Srixon feel, but much improved.
Srixon Z Star x: Long, nice overall feeling ball that will find the bags of many golfers.
Nike Tour: NOP replacement. Higher spin ball. If you need more spin in your game this was the highest spinning ball in our test.
Nike Tour D: NOB replacement. Low spin ball, low launch ball that is long. It has just a smidge harder feel then the Tour.
Bridgestone B-330 RX: New concept in premium golf balls making this one for slower swing speeds. This was a pleasant surprise, great low spin with nice feel off driver.
Bridgestone B-330: Long, firm feel. Low spin.
Bridgestone B-330S: Much softer feel, still offered good numbers. Nice all around premium ball off driver.
Taylormade TP Red: If you need a little more spin this ball was near the top spinners. Didn’t find this one to be as long as expected.
Taylormade TP Black: Found this to be decent ball off the tee. Nothing blow you away either feel or distance, but low spin and nice launch angle gives this good overall play.
Callaway Tour I: The HX dimples on the Tour I are a little softer and spin a little more than the Ix.
Callaway Tour Ix: This is a great ball when it comes to spin, feel and distance. HX dimples offer something different from the other companies, especially in the wind.
Dixon Earth: Premium cost from a newcomer. It’s feel isn’t quite up to those above, but performance was very good.
mr_divot's comments:Try as I might, indoor launch monitors and I just don't see eye to eye. I need that visual feedback of the ball to adjust my swing. That said, it's always fun to see where the launch angles and spin rates come in for the different ball manufacturers. The differences are slight and down to a few yards here and a few hundred RPM's there. The balls I suspected would be best for me off the driver came in tops in carry distance, with the Bridgestone B-330 coming in tops for me around 255 yards, closely trailed by the Callway ix. With my poor early Spring form, it was surprising, however, that my spin was mitigated some by the softer compressing balls such as the Bridgestone B-330RX and the Srixon Z-Star. The carry distance was a little shorter, but it gave me something to consider going into this season. More forgiveness in a ball might have something to it. The fact there are so many balls to choose from now makes it a good idea to see what a ball change can do for you. I'll save my final judgment for the Spring when I can hit these premium pond pellets and see how they check around the greens and how they putt. I ran out of time and functioning vertebrate, so the Nikes will have to be tested another day. The Tour D is definitely on my radar though.
